The Old Jewish East End

In 1881 Czar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated by revolutionaries. The Russian government’s response was to launch an anti-Semitic onslaught against its Jewish subjects. Murderous attacks, known as pogroms, were launched against centres of Jewish population. Restrictions on employment and residence were an additional part of this campaign. The result was that between 1881 and 1914 an estimated 3 million Jews fled to the West. The majority went to the US, but approximately 100,000 settled in the UK, many of them in the East End of London. Today most of their descendants have moved away and only a few elderly Jewish people remain. The late 19th and early 20th century photographs in the first of the galleries below come from a remarkable photo archive acquired by JEECs and record aspects of a largely vanished Jewish East End.

The following two galleries showcase part of the vast picture collection of the late Philip Walker, who died in 2014. You can see more of his pictures at www.jewisheastend.com, the amazing website he created and which remains as a memorial to him.

Journey through a Vanished Shtetl

East End shoppingA Jewish chemists in Aldgate

Apologies from HerzlA 1901 letter from Theodore Herzl, founder of Zionism, to Mrs Maurburger of 39 Fashion Street, apologising for not being able to attend a meeting

An East End philanthropistLord (Nathan Myer) Rothschild, banker and philanthropist

An opponent of Jewish immigrationRabbi Nathan Marcus Adler, Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue and opponent of east European immigration to the UK

The King's Own Schneiders Royal Fusiliers tailoring for the War effort. These tailors refered to themselves as 'The King's Own Schneiders'. Schneider is Yiddish for tailor.

Boots for saleA print of a Jewish secondhand boot seller in an East End bazaar. Was this a forerunner of Petticoat Lane?

Family portraitAbraham Cassel with his parents

Posing for the cameraMoshe Kramer, an elderly Jewish immigrant, posing as a farmer in an East End photographic studio

The Royal Jewsiliers38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, raised from East London Jews in World War One. They called themselves 'The Royal Jewsiliers'.

A leading SocialistLithuanian born Aaron Lieberman, resident of Gun Street and founder of the Hebrew Socialist Union

The East End at workA posed photo in a Jewish East End tailoring workshop

The East End at workThe ‘Sweating Song’, which referred to working conditions in tailoring workshops, many of them Jewish owned and staffed

East End shoppingDavid Cohen's closing down sale

East End shoppingI Silkoff, General Store, Aldgate

East End synagogues

Vine Court SynagogueThe former Vine Court Synagogue is half a mile east of Aldgate East Station, and worth the walk. Vine Court is a tiny turning off Whitechapel Road.
Walk into a cobbled alleyway under an arch and there on your left hand side is 'Malhi House', formerly Vine Court Synagogue. The dome in the distance is the crumbling roof of the old flop house next to the East London Mosque. Step back 100 years when you step into Vine Court. The synagogue combined with Fieldgate Street Synagogue in 1965,

Princelet Street synagogue19 Princelet Street , home and business of the Lipman Family. The shop front held Mr. Lipman's shoe repair business, the back of the building the family living rooms. The synagogue was built over what would have been the back garden.

Scenes from the East End

Drinking fountainDrinking fountain outside St Botolph's church, Aldgate, dedicated to Frederic David Mocatta (1828-1905), bullion broker and philanthropist. He was a member of a Sephardi banking dynasty.

Wall plaqueWall plaque opposite the soup kitchen in Brune Street commemorating those who have passed through the East End

Stepney Jewish SchoolStepney Jewish School in 2007

Stepney Jewish SchoolStepney Jewish School Purim Play of January 1937

Stepney Jewish SchoolStepney Jewish School: a 1938 class photo

Robert Montefiore SchoolRobert Montefiore School

Aldgate signThe sign above Albert's, Aldgate, marking the former offices of a Yiddish newspaper. JEECS has adopted it as its emblem.

Stepney Green DwellingsStepney Green Dwellings, erected by Lord Rothschild's 4 per cent Industrial Dwelling Company in the late 19th century

Sidney StreetThe Lodzer Café at 97 Sidney Street, directly opposite the site of the siege at 100 Sidney Street. It was known as the Lodzer Café because the owner came from Lodz in Poland.

ArbourSquareThe Raine’s Foundation School in Arbour Square

East End children, 1917The little girl on the right is 4-year old Leah Lachman, born in 1913, with her sister on the left and baby brother in the arms of a midwife. Their proud mother Rachel stands behind. Tragedy was to follow; a year later Rachel would be dead, victim of a flu epidemic. Brought up in poverty in Whitechapel, Leah subsequently became Leah Walker and lived to the age of 86. Her grandson, Jonathan, designed this website.

Jubilee StreetCaves Dairy in Jubilee Street

Jewish Board of GuardiansPlaque marking the site of the Jewish Board of Guardians, 125-129 Middlesex Street

Jackie Brafman"You've heard of Christian Dior, well I'm the Yiddisher Dior." The quote is from the film A Kid for Two Farthings, based on the Wolf Mankowitz novel. But it seems apt for Jackie Brafman, Wentworth Street trader

Friend and CoThe former butchers shop of Friend and Co, 40 Wentworth Street. Note the orignal blue and white tiles, to the left, sticking out beyond the modern frontage

Goides bakersThe former premises of Goides a famous East End bakers and caterer, in Wentworth Street

Keep in touch

Latest news

The beautiful East London Centre Synagogue in Nelson Street (30-40 Nelson Street, E1 2DS) now features on Wikipedia, with an entry that draws in part from an article in JEECS magazine, The Cable.
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Back issues of JEECS’s magazine The Cable are still available at bargain prices. Over the years The Cable has provided a unique account of the people, culture, places and events that made the Jewish East End so vibrant.
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Michael Greisman, whose wonderful historic photograph compilations have featured in our magazine The Cable and on our website, has done it again with a collection of portraits of Jewish Servicemen and Servicewomen – many from the East End – who served with the British armed services during World War Two.
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JEWISH EAST END CELEBRATION SOCIETY Newsletter 11 February 2018. From Clive Bettington, JEECS chairman As I said in the last Cable I plan to keep in contact with members of JEECS by newsletters at least until the end of this year. I want to thank everyone who sent emails regretting the closure of JEECS: David and I were touched to…Read More